FISHING AT HOME AND ABROAD 



In the eastern streams where it is content to make itself at home and does 

 not wander seawards, the rainbow trout of the far West is a success and 

 affords the best of sport. It is game to the backbone, and rises freely at 

 natural and artificial flies. If a good stock of both the brown trout and 

 rainbows could be maintained side by side it would be agreeable to anglers, 

 as one fish may be taking well when the other is dead off. 



These conditions existed for a time in the Eropus in Ulster Co. N.Y. The 

 rainbows were very numerous many years ago and a fair number were 

 taken this year (1912) up to one pound and a half. This shows that they 

 have maintained themselves to a certain extent. Allowing for the differences 

 In coloration, many of them resemble a small fresh-run salmon, with 

 small heads and beautifully proportioned, plump bodies. 



I hesitate to write freely on the subject of artificial flies, as it has been 

 a hobby with me, and when talking or writing of our hobbies we do not 

 know when to stop. As a youth I bored good-natured people to extinction 

 with flies and fishing. I claim, however, that I talked of shooting in the fall 

 of the year, which changed the subject. Nowadays I fancy that I enjoy the 

 conversation and writings of other old hands quite as well, or better, 

 than my own. That is, if they are men of long experience who are good 

 observers and have studied the problems presented to every fly fisher with 

 an open mind. The youthful angler wishes to tell everybody how to fish, 

 and there are older enthusiasts who break into print after a short experi- 

 ence. We pick up good hints here and there in books as well as by meeting 

 good fishers in our wanderings. For instance, that hint given by the 

 veteran angler, H. R. Francis, many years ago, that a very small Starling 

 or dun-winged Coachman would kill when the winged ants were on the 

 water, and this in spite of their difference in form. That hint gave me 

 twenty-two fine trout one afternoon, when other attractions failed and I 

 had no imitation of the ants. I killed a few fish that were hidden away during 

 the low water with the same fly in July of this year. 



I fish quills a great deal, but peacock is often weak and condor unob- 

 tainable. I have tried cementing and gluing the quill to shank of hook, but 

 like better a ribbing of practically invisible gold wire. If you will buy 

 your quill -bodied flies months before you expect to use them, and allow 

 them to become dry and set upon the hook, they will last much longer and 

 endure the rough usage they receive. The sharp briary teeth of small 

 trout quickly cut quills. 



It is hard to beat fine dubbing for the bodies of light-coloured duns and 

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